Nine Eleven Decade
 

Well, we already have the twin towers thread, but this one’s about something more.

:eek: What ten years have wrought on this nation and this earth as a result of the events of September 11, 2001, direct or indirect, real or imagined.



I remember being pretty horrified that day, but I don’t recall thinking all too much about the repercussions - except perhaps that someone or other had just unleashed an unfortunate barrelful of WhoopA$$ on the world.

That part has come true in ways so much more deplorable than the events of 9/11 themselves, imo. Ten long years and counting of horrific war. Pfft, we call it “war,” but that demeans the word and makes it worthless. Perhaps not so much do as the “War on Drugs” or even Nine-Eleven’s offspring the “War on Terror.” But to call what America is doing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan “war” is laughable. War had traditionally meant a series of battles between armed forces, and relatively equally-matched armed forces at that (lest there be but one or two such battles). There are no armed forces fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan against the United States or NATO. What we are doing there is killing brown people. By the hundreds of thousands. Dwarfing anything done by the nefarious plotters of 9/11. And it’s no small comfort to the millions of loved ones to those hundreds of thousands that the ragtag bunch of insurgents and terrorists who can’t possibly form an armed force to rival the U.S. military machine have nonetheless kept it at bay and at battle for 10 years while the effort inexorably bankrupts the United States.

I’m not sure many members of al Queda or even bin Laden considered the primary purpose of the 9/11 attacks to be a nation-crushing economic depletion - but certainly some of the ex-Mujahideen of Afghanistan who formed the core of al Queda understood all too well how the U.S. crushed the Soviet Union through military brinksmanship bankruptcy, and how Russia’s unfortunate occupation of their Afghanistan hastened that bankruptcy in great measure.


But even if this result was inadvertent, it’s happened. 10 years of blood and treasure in amounts unparalleled and unfathomable.

Perhaps 9/11 did not cause any elements that led to this country’s and the world’s current financial crises, but certainly America would be in a better position to deal with the economy of the early 21st Century had it not spent and borrowed for wars in the amount of $3.7 trillion (and counting).




Let’s see, what else? Oh, surely America was doing nasty business all over the world well before 9/11 - but now it’s all in the open, and done with recklessness and presumably-licensed abandon.

Kidnapping and “renditioning” of suspects who would never qualify for a night in a U.S. jail to foreign security forces for state-sanctioned torture. Waterboarding performed by our own people, in contravention of Geneva Convention agreements and all heretofore definitions of torture. Guantanamo. Abu-Graib.

The Patriot Act just recently renewed. Practically all limits on privacy abuse and illegal search and seizure wiped away as if they weren’t constitutionally guaranteed. Blackwater. Halliburton. Weapons of Mass Destruction lied about, never found, foisted for purposes of plunder, pillage and killing hundreds of thousands of brown people.

Predator Drones. Muslim-bashing. Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson/Scooter Libby.

Dick Cheney. Donald Rumsfeld. Alberto Gonzales. I could go on and on.


But it makes me sick to do so. As horrifying as the events of 9/11 were, I think what has happened to our nation, and what our nation has foisted on the world, is far more horrifying. It’s been ten years, so I think we’re reaching some sort of equilibrium. But we live in much more of a police state than when we started, and that’s not going away any time soon. Neither is, I guess, perpetual war - or, ya know, killing of brown people.

I don’t like what’s happened since 9/11, much of it in reaction to or capitalizing on 9/11. The crashing of airliners full of people into skyscrapers full of people may just have turned out to be some of the most innocent and harmless parts of the whole sordid, sickening affair.


I certainly never imagined on that day ten years ago that the repercussions would be so terrible or last so long. And I certainly never thought for an instant that day that I was not seeing the worst of it. That so much worse was yet to come.



Personally, I’ve had one of the best decades of my life. I’ve largely been unaffected by any of the awful echoes of nine eleven. But it saddens me so much, as ten years is clicked off, that the events of that day changed our country and our world so much for the worse, and maybe forever.

Personally, while looking for something specific I have ended up reading all of the threads started at MousePad on 9/11 and the couple days after. It is interesting to see the raw reactions again, some long forgotten names (Lacrosse Boy!), and just the odds and ends of what comes up in a niche focused community.

This first hand account from the only NYC member we knew of, who watched it from her apartment window:

Interesting to see CP noting the new security bag checks and that they seemed nice. Marla (aka HBTiggerFan) warning us all that an email that 9/11 was predicted by Nostradamus is a hoax, etc. Being reminded that even I wasn't so curmudgeonly to publicly resist the idea of using flags as avatars (though privately I continued to think using the flag as a display of anything meaningful to be silly at best). The behind-the-scenes discussion of how MousePlanet should cover it.

I'd completely forgotten about the moment of silence (after emptying all rides, stores, and offices) and parkwide playing of God Bless America at the park the next day.

Well Pooh.

Hmmm...it's in the Lounge so if you're logged in I thought you should be able to access it (unless there are other rules I don't know/remember).

I can see it.

Oh noes, I must have forgotten my mousepad login info. Oh well.

I wasn't in the Park that day, but I'll never forget them closing the Sleeping Beauty Walk-thru in the middle of mouse adventure on the day we started bombing Afghanistan roughly a month after nine eleven. There was a quest that took you thru the walk-thru and - like many mouse adventure unplanned glitches - we "wasted" time on that, while every team ended up getting automatic credit for the quest since it became un-doable mid-game. Heheh, not fair - but it was the last time we'd see the inside of the castle for about 8 years, and the very last time we'd see the hokey '70's version of the walk-thru.


Oh, also, thanks to the uber-patrioticness flooding the soul of the nation that year, Disneyland's 2002 Fourth of July fireworks were the Best Fireworks Show Ever in the History of Mankind.





Back more on track, but following this tangent a bit - - - We STILL have the absolutely useless Disneyland Bag Check to slow down and uglify our entry to the theme park area of the Resort. Pfft, I smuggle contraband into the Park on a regular basis, and could easily bring in a gun, a vial of anthrax, or even a small bomb with no effort. Stupid, lame, Nine-Eleven nonsense still with us.


Heheh, I guess it's the only part I personally deal with, since I'm not (yet) a terror suspect or anything like that - - and I doubt the government knows any more about me than facebook does. But I'm a privileged white boy living in Southern California. I think there's lots of people still living with the repercussions of nine eleven, and ten years is enough. Let's stop already! Sheesh.

That was before I had joined MP, still only hearing things about it through CP.

I do recall being slightly weirded out looking over her shoulder and seeing all of the flag avatars.

Interesting. It does show me as logged in, but I can't post and the lounge is marked private. I guess that's what happens when you don't log in for a few years.

EDITED to add: Ahhh! Mystery solved. I changed emails quite some time ago and was put on hold for having a bad email address. That's updated and now I can view the thread.

On a positive note this corresponds closely with the time I started meeting all of you personally. I still fondly remember those days of fear right after and how empty that made the parks for us to play in.

But yeah, the culture of fear that spawned and is still with us in silly security checks and annoying invasions of privacy makes me think the terrorists were at least successful in defeating that aspect of the American ideal. I also remember how much the rest of the world loved us in those moments after and how quickly we squandered all that good will.

One bright spot is that we live in California. When I travel abroad, claiming to be an American will have me spat upon. Saying I'm a Californian usually gets me a free drink. :cool:

That's all? You're lucky I have to say I'm from Washington DC.

I believe December was the first NYE party you hosted too and with all the food the dark jokes of "well if something happens we won't go hungry for awhile" were rampant. Also: are you bacon or sausage.

I could swear there was some party at NA and €uro's that happened to be on a nine-elevenaversay, because Isaac and I were busy working on a replica of the twin towers that we would have a miniature airline crash into via traveling by wire. We were making building plans and shopping for miniature aircraft when we realized there'd be too many who might find the demonstration in poor taste. Oh well. :blush:

I recall that as well, thoughts of a twin towers cake?

I made the decision to leave my miserable job on 9/11/2001- after having the worst seizure episode of my life.

Ooooh, that's a pleasant idea. Maybe a twin towers souffle would be more appropriate. Ya know, something confectionary that could collapse. Bah, not enough time to work this out before Sunday ... but it's good to know my taste is still in my mouth.

That was Erica's surprise birthday party.

Yes, the timing would be right

You've been snubbed

Until he said he had a problem I'd forgotten that the Lounge was set to be invisible unless logged in as that was a change made after my moderating days ended.

Alas, the last time I logged into mouseplanet was even longer ago than the last time I logged into micechat - - both a very, very, very long time ago. ;)

Holy sh*t I think Herman Cain has just applied for and gotten an offer for the job of conductor of the crazy train. I can't express how unhinged I now think he is to think this was a touching, patriotic thing to do.

ETA: Not that I had a high regard to begin with...

OK, warning for everyone. It shows graphic images from September 11th, 2001. I turned it off after 7 seconds.

Le sigh. This site has air traffic audio from that morning, and not only in much higher quality that I used for a project 3 years ago, but playable from any single point of indexed dialog.

Ok, so ... I simply cannot resist redoing the opening minutes of an audio project I did on nine-eleven, which in turn was for an audio project on American history.

I must have listened to and culled dozens of hours of newscasts, fire department radio calls, interviews, speeches, video tapes, and air traffic radio to use in the final 17-minute segment. And I got so insanely immersed in nine eleven, more than I had been since that morning 10 years ago, and more than I'd like to ever be again. It was more than a little disturbing.

But I can't resist the material that will let me improve that project which - because of all the work and tragedy-immersion that went into it - is very dear to my heart. So I'm reworking the intro tonight, and likely won't finish it until tomorrow night or Sunday. Not how I'd planned to memorialize the event - because it's a little more chilling than I care to deal with. But there's no denying to myself that it's more than a little appropriate.

Le.

Sigh.

I can't log in to MP. Something must be wrong. ;)

Personally, I could live a happier life if I didn't have to be reminded of 9/11 on a regular basis. Of course, I'm reading a book involving the early days of Nazi Germany which isn't any happier.

NA, I'm taking today as off-the-grid as I can because I don't need to see-hear it all again. I'll be thinking about it plenty anyway. Big peace to all here.

I missed it all the first time round and I just can't make myself try to re-live it.

One thing that still sticks out in my mind is how fvcking professional Doc on the Roc (KROQ's news guy) and the rest of the Kevin and Bean crew was that morning.

The other, among many, really is sitting at Starbucks during the days following with Erica thinking how eerily quiet it was without planes flying over and how loud it was once planes were allowed back in the air.

Then there was the convoy of tanks driving down Edinger, heading towards NWS Seal Beach (we presumed).

I was supposed to start a new job as crew scheduler with National Airlines on the 12th. Of course, with no planes flying...

So yeah, I was hyper aware of the air silence. Started the next day. I felt kind of bad for the panicked flight attendants stuck in random cities we didn't fly to calling in to ask when they could come home and suddenly there's a new voice on the line.

So, I clicked on the link to her flick'r acct and was greeted with:

Salaam Gn2Dlnd!
Now you know how to greet people in Arabic!

And that was weird.

I didn't see your warning, BTD, I got as far as 8 seconds.

I happen to think I have a pretty good voice. And I'd like to run for President some day. I hadn't previously considered combining these activities, but once the whole 9/11 hullabaloo dies down I think we should add karaoke competitions to the usual debate cycle.

I see it's time to start avoiding all news sources and some broadcast tv channels... the deluge has begun.

Thought this was an interesting info-graphic on the impact of 9/11 on civil liberties:

MSNBC is rerunning the NBC coverage from that day. It's just as intense, even after you know what happened and it's truly amazing how composed Tom Brokaw and all the other broadcasters were.

This is the first year I have actively sought out coverage and I'll probably regret it tonight when the images burned into my brain 10 years ago are brought front and center.

We've spent the day avoiding coverage. Watched morris dancing and rock cello. Did a ton of laundry. Unpacked a box. Bathed the cat. Watched Star Trek. Looking forward to the media returning to its usual pandering to the unwashed masses.

I was productive today as well. Bought and assembled a new Ikea bed, disposed of an old one, cleaned kitchen and office, did important business-related paperwork - made myself a szechuan stir fry with beef, broccoli, carrots and red and yellow peppers. (Pretty good.) All the while, I listened to science, skeptical and Biblical criticism podcasts.

I'm toying with watching United 93 before bedtime. Haven't done anything all day to "observe the occasion" - - - -so.

But I don't seem to be in the mood for such an intense movie. Funny, I never seen to be in the mood to watch that film. Purchased it. Never in the mood to watch it. Heh.

I have the 9/11 documentary (the one by the French guys from inside WTC) on DVD. After that, all other coverage seems trite and cloying.

People invoke 9/11 so often that it became another catch phrase and is trite. I think we'd all be good to remember how we felt that day, how we, as a country pulled together to support each other and try to heal the divide that has overtaken the nation on both sides. It shouldn't be the right against the left and it's disgusting that we have gone down this path. If it doesn't stop we will have destroyed ourselves. Or maybe that's what the terrorists wanted, to light the fuse that will cause us to implode.

Coverage during football was actually somewhat less annoying than I anticipated. The worst part was actually one of the ads that was referencing it (don't recall what it was for). For some reason they felt the need to show several closeups of the Statue of Liberty's armpit.

No, I take that back. The worst of it was the Anheuser Busch ad where the Clydsdales kneel/bow in front of NYC. Ew.

Have you seen it at all? It really is well made and I respect the hell out of it, but I don't really expect I'll ever see it again.

Today, at my farmer's mkt.:

1) One of the hummus guys, Mehdi is his name, asked me if I was celebrating 9/11. Shocked, I asked him what he meant by "celebrating." He said, "Do you believe in 9/11?," to which I replied, "Uh, yeah, 9/11 happened..." He said, "Well, do you think some guys, or the Taliban or something crashed the airplanes, or do you think it was an inside job?," all the while grinning at me in a way that told me his opinion would likely differ from mine. This is a guy who I've been friendly with over the years, and I was a little thrown. I dropped my helpful I-must-be-misunderstanding-you attitude, and said, "Yes, I believe those planes were crashed by exactly who we were told crashed them, and no I don't believe that our government decided to crash a few planes full of people for no good reason. I also don't think that the people of Afghanistan had anything to do with it, but George Bush and his gang made some decisions I don't agree with." As my voice was slightly raised by this point, he then beat a hasty retreat. I'm left to wonder how common is the belief in some secret governmental conspiracy regarding 9/11.

2) A customer I recognize was kind of "stuck" in front of my table for a while. After I ran out of friendly chit-chat, I asked him if the people he was waiting for had ditched him, ha-ha. He told me that he had just walked out of church in the middle of the sermon because the pastor was telling a modernized version of the story of Joseph and his brothers, at one point comparing someone in the story's behavior with the Taliban. My customer's story started escalating to the point that he started bring up some of the horrible imagery of 9/11, at which point I had to stop him, saying, "Look, I understand you're upset, but I'm incredibly sensitive about this stuff. I really can't have this conversation with you." He apologized, I felt a little bad for not being able to let him vent, but he seemed to understand. I suggested that he talk to his Pastor after he cools down, let him know how his sermon made him feel. He was obviously distressed, but he thanked me, and told me I was a "good man."

I did not turn on the news, not even KNX for traffic or NPR for the hourly update. I worked my mkt., went up to Universal and ate BBQ'd chicken for dinner, and went to my meeting. Unless there's an earthquake, I don't expect to turn on any news sources until tomorrow. That's how I spent my 9/11/11.

Not sure I need to see it again, but I liked the Clydesdale ad when it came out at the time.

Yeah, I saw it in theaters. A very well-made movie and I tend to like films that handle real-life drama in a decent manner. This one qualifies, so I purchased it - but have yet to watch the DVD. Never been in the mood to potentially get really upset - - and yesterday's anniversary was no exception.

I'm disappointed to learn that access to the WTC memorial site is by ticketed appointment and involves full airport-style security screening. I do hope that is only a temporary thing while it's new and will be drawing huge crowds that would overwhelm it. Because the irony in that is painful.

Irony? I'm not seeing it. You don't think there should be airport-style security to a site with the biggest Terrorist target on it? Or are you referring to the limited entry? I hope there will be no need for that sometime in the future, but for now they are limiting the space to 1500 people at a time. I don't think there's anything wrong with that limit, or with acknowledging that allowing 5000 people to cram in to that space would tend to defeat the comptemplative purpose of most of those visits.

From the museum's mission statement

I acknowledged the need for it while the crowds remain overwhelming. But I sincerely hope that once the newness wears off and the crowds dwindle to level where appointments aren't necessary, it can become a free and open area to visit, because yes I see DEEP irony in having a mission statement about dignity while employing the kind of security measures that are the most visible symbol of how the attack, and fear its generated, have continued to gradually strip us of our dignity.

Well, there's no limit or security for the museum, so its mission statement doesn't apply. There's no museum for another full year.

Does the Memorial have a similar mission statement? If so, yes, I see the irony.

Have you gone through the process of singing up for tickets? Was it easy/hard, were tickets for your visit date available?

Getting the tickets was a breeze. Easily done thru their website. Didn't have any problem getting tix for one of the few days I'll be in the City.

I'm not sure why GD re-quoted the sentence from the museum's mission statement. Was it meant to imply it was also part of the memorial's mission statement, which is what I asked?

But ironic or not, it's absurd to think they would not have security screening for entry to the memorial.


And in any event, while I did zero NineElevenTennaversary observations yesterday ... I will be saving that and observing the decade-old event and what effects its had on the ensuing ten years with appropriate solemnity, emotion and contemplation on October 6th, when I'll be visiting the barely 3-week old Memorial and gazing upon the depths of the waterfall pools where once stood the towers that I once stood on top of.

Umm, unless my screen is showing something different than yours, I quoted 2 different sentences, the second specifically being from the memorial's mission statement.

"...which reaffirm respect for life, strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance."

Um, I don't see anything in there that contradicts security screening. But whatevs, I suppose.

We have to sing for our tickets?

I'm screwed






:D

Freedom, dignity, and an end to intolerance indeed.

Horrifying!

So what this means is, if anyone pisses you off on a flight, you can simply report them as "suspicious" and they get striped searched by the feds. Nice.

Probably only if they're brown.

Well, I tried to do my civic observance duty and watch United 93 last night. But when I got the part where they pretty much stick with the stuff inside the claustrophobic and doomed aircraft, I got so uncomfortable and had to turn it off.

Maybe I'll try to finish it tonight, but I think I'll just cop out by watching it with the commentary track on. (And it's really an interesting story of filmmaking, as a matter of fact.)

So the TSA is softening their search procedures on children 12 and under including allowing them to leave their shoes on. Sadly, I can see some terrorist exploiting this detail by trying to put a shoe bomb on a child and dragging them on a plane.

Maybe I being too negative...

It's no more or less likely than some terrorist putting a bomb in their own underwear, or childrens' underwear. Should we be making kids take their underwear off too?

Wait, I shouldn't ask Kevy that.

Love this take on the NineElevenTennaversary.

Very good article. Spot on.

Freedom, dignity, and an end to intolerance indeed.

Yeah, heard that on the news this morning. Lovely.


Of course, this is the same organization that, despite the demand of CONGRESS, refused to turn over to the 9/11 Commission its information that a cell in San Diego was assisting the highjackers and, more recently revealed, that another cell of Saudis in Sarasota was also assisting the hijackers and fled the country 12 days before 9/11. (Separate and apart from the 143 Saudis the Bush Administration had flown out of the country immediately after 9/11 on private jets and commandeered commercial aircraft while all air traffic in the U.S. was still grounded).


I'm sure evil, corrupt, and incompetent elements have existed in government and police authorities since the beginning of time, but it never fails to sicken me.